If there’s one Bollywood actor who can’t be messed around with on social media, it has to be Abhishek Bachchan. The way he deals with trolls has always been appreciated, as he chooses to reply politely with a tinge of humour, even if they take a direct jibe at him or comment about his family.

The first step, he says, is not identifying them as trolls. “Acknowledge that they aren’t trolls; being one has a very negative connotation. If you label someone a troll, why are you confronting or replying to them?” he says.

The 44-year-old adds that these are people who watch his work, and the “old school name for them would be fans”. Elaborating his point, he adds, “These people who watch your work have a platform to interact with you today, so they are there to do it. If anyone says something, I feel like responding to them. About 95% of the people I responded to changed their opinion of what they were trying to say in the first place, and said, ‘We’re sorry, we didn’t mean to say that or upset you’. That’s good because I clarified something.”

And what about the other five? Bachchan says it’s apparent that they don’t want to engage in a discussion. “If they start abusing, you realise that all this person wants to do is be excited that they’re speaking to a celebrity and using bad language. You stop the conversation. Never wrestle with a pig; the pig is actually enjoying it while you’re just getting dirty. If you label them as trolls, toh munh kyun lag rahe ho?” he explains.

This Zen approach of his certainly draws praise from people. But one can take all of this only to an extent. When it gets too nasty, doesn’t that get to Bachchan? He admits it does. “We actors are very sensitive people. I understand we’re public property, and once you’re that, people can take potshots at you, and of course it hurts. In the last 20 years, I’ve had my fair share of reviews which I could have turned around and said were trolling me. They had nothing to do with my film, but personal attacks on me. It does hurt, you do register it,” he confesses.

How one responds to them is what matters, according to the actor. He says he takes the criticism of his work positively. “I approach it thinking, ‘Here’s someone who’s kindly telling me, without me asking, how I can improve my work’. I don’t need to employ a nationwide survey on what I’m doing wrong. I use it as a guideline to improve my work. I attribute a lot, of the actor I’ve become, to whatever guidance critics have given me over the years, right from my first film,” Bachchan concludes.